- THE BEASTMAN RETURNS

by Mick Hammond – MMAWeekly.com
Overall 2005 was a good year in MMA for Marvin “The Beastman” Eastman. He went 5-1, losing only a controversial decision to future UFC prospect Jason Lambert, and helped re-establish himself as one of the toughest light-heavyweight fighters around.

Now after having won his first fight of 2006 over fellow UFC alum Travis Wiuff in Elite Fighting’s premier event in Vancouver, Canada last weekend, Eastman is looking forward to taking the steps needed to earn the respect, title, and money he feels he deserves.

“It went as I expected,” said Marvin of his win over Wiuff. “Obviously I don’t go into a fight hoping to win, I expect to win. I knew he was a wrestler and I’ve been wrestling for 15-20 years and people they obviously call me a kickboxer, that’s fine, so they underestimate the caliber of wrestler I am and my takedown defense and everything. But a wrestler is null and void if he can’t do what his specialty is, and that’s get you on the ground, he wasn’t successful with that at all.”

Eastman continued, “On the contrary I had him on his back about four or five times in the fight. The only thing I was disappointed with was that the ring ropes were really low and the surface was really loose so I wasn’t able to use a lot of the weapons I have like my elbows and a lot of the stuff you can do up against a fence. Other than that it went as expected, so I’m satisfied.”

As for headlining the first show for a new promotion in Elite Fighting, Marvin feels it was a great experience and looks forward to returning there sometime in the future.

“It was great, they had the marquee all over Vancouver, the city is really beautiful and the people were very nice. On top of that the promoters were excellent,” exclaimed Eastman. “You have some other individuals who conduct business up in Canada that was not as professional as these individuals were. They were very gentleman-like and treated us great and on top of that they are genuine good people. I can’t wait to get up there and fight again.”

The fight had been Marvin’s first MMA bout in nearly six months. And according to Eastman, it’s not because he wanted it that way, but rather, that’s the situation he was placed in by individuals unwilling to step up and face him.

“When people think that you’re losing and down and out a lot of people step up to the plate and want to fight you. It changes a lot when you get on a streak and start winning, people start cancelling fights,” said Eastman with some frustration in his voice. “I had about three or four fights that was supposed to happen but people backed out and they got cancelled, that’s the nature of the business. I had like 10 scheduled fights last year but only ended up fighting six or seven times.”

Marvin further commented, “For me I was just out there determined to be relentless and just fight, it didn’t matter what organization or who stepped up. Whoever wanted to fight, I would fight, I didn’t care anything about the money, it was just because I needed to get on track and let people know how serious I was about fighting.”

As for how his career has gone so far, Eastman seems pleased with the way things have progressed and where he’s headed, even if things haven’t gone as smoothly as he would have liked.

“Obviously I want to be top of the food chain in the US. You know who is top of the food chain of my division here and I want to be able to compete with any of these guys here,” said Marvin. “For me when I had an opportunity to be in the big show, my luck was just terrible. Fans don’t get care about personal problems and all of that, when you get in the cage all they care about is fighting and if you lose, you lose. For me I’m not like other fighters whose job it is to only be a fighter. I work, I’m an officer 24 hours a day, so I’ve got kids, family members that I have to take care of, so I don’t have an opportunity to train and come home and just rest. I go work as an officer 10-15 hours a day sometimes, then go train boxing with my manager, kickbox with my Thai teacher, incorporate grappling and Jiu-Jitsu, try to fit sleep into that equation and then go back to work. So it’s very difficult, but I don’t make any excuses, I’m a fighter and I chose to do it.”

“People couldn’t even understand if all I had to do is just train, that would be unbelievable, but I enjoy doing this and so I don’t make any excuses. It’s my responsibility to make sure I’m in top shape and sometimes you can get to the point where you over train and burn yourself out. My two main losses that I consider losses was Vitor Belfort and Travis Lutter, I accept that, but it’s not going to happen anymore, no more losses,” added Eastman.

As for the remainder of the year, Marvin has one more fight in a couple weeks signed, with something else on a larger scale close to being worked out. “I’ve got some stuff on the horizon that’s going to be really big. I haven’t said anything yet because it hasn’t been inked, but we’re going to shock and surprise some people. Some people have written me off, I let the talkers talk, but bottom line is I’ve got to get in the cage and go toe-to-toe with world class fighters and put them on their back and do the things I need to do.”

Eastman further commented, “I’m going to keep knocking these cats down like dominos, all of them. Everybody they put in front of me, I’m setting them down. It isn’t being cocky, it’s having confidence, everybody that’s a fighter should have confidence about their abilities and that’s where I’m at right now. I don’t feel like I can be beat right now and I’m going to do my best to keep the streak going. I’ve got multiple respects for all the fighters, but I’m trying to eat and get some Tito (Ortiz) and Chuck (Liddell) money. That’s what the deal is, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do and I’m staying on point and I’m going to be putting these guys on their backs.”

Marvin concluded the conversation by wanting to thank those who have stuck with him throughout the rough patches over the last couple years and by wanting to give a message to the rest of the light-heavyweight division.

“I just want to say to all the diehard fans that still represent The Beastman that I’ve got much love for you and that I appreciate it,” concluded Eastman. “Some things are happening in May, you can speculate what it is, I’m not going to tip my cards until I sign the contract. I’m fighting on the WEF card here in Las Vegas on April 1st at The Orleans Casino. I’ve got this individual then I’ve got a big name in May and I’m going to keeping knocking these fools down like dominos. I want to say thank you to Beatdown, one of my sponsors NatWest Securities and my website Beastmantv.com which will be up in about a week. That way you all can hit me up, stay on point, and find out what The Beastman is doing. We’ve got some big things coming up; I’m coming to get the top dogs in the 205lb division in 2006.”